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CIRCULAR

Guiding a number of contents regarding quality management of construction works and capability conditions of organizations and individuals in construction activities

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 36/2003/ND-CP of April 4, 2003, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Construction;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 16/2005/ND-CP of February 7, 2005, on the management of investment projects on the construction of works (hereinafter called Decree No. 16/2005/ND-CP for short);

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP of December 16, 2004, on the management of the quality of construction works (hereinafter called Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP for short),

The Construction Ministry hereby guides the implementation of a number of contents regarding quality management of construction works and capability conditions of organizations and individuals in construction activities as follows:

I. Regarding the responsibility for state management of the quality of construction works, defined in Article 37 of Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP

1. The Construction Ministry

The Construction Ministry performing the unified state management of the quality of construction works nationwide shall have the responsibility to:

1.1. Promulgate legal documents on quality management in surveying, designing, construction, pre-acceptance testing, handover, warranty and maintenance of construction works;

1.2. Guide localities, ministries, branches as well as organizations and individuals in implementing legal documents on quality management of construction works;

1.3. Inspect and urge localities in the work of state management of the quality of construction works. Inspect the quality management of construction works by ministries, branches, organizations and individuals according to the provisions of law. Propose the handling of violations related to the quality of construction works;

1.4. Annually, report to the Prime Minister on the quality management of construction works countrywide.

The Department for State Quality Verification of Construction Projects shall assist the Minister of Construction in performing the above-said responsibilities.

2. Ministries managing specialized construction works

Ministries managing specialized construction works, including the Industry Ministry, the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry and the Transport Ministry, shall have the responsibility to:

2.1. Promulgate documents guiding organizations and individuals to implement legal documents on quality management of specialized construction works nationwide, which are managed by the Ministries;

2.2. Regularly and irregularly inspect the observance of regulations on quality management of specialized construction works and propose the handling of violations related to the quality of specialized construction works when detecting such violations;

2.3. Send biannual and annual reports on the quality of specialized construction works to the Construction Ministry.

3. Provincial-level People's Committees

Provincial-level People's Committees shall have to perform state management of the quality of construction works within the administrative boundaries under their respective management. Provincial/municipal Construction Services shall assist provincial-level People's Committees in performing the unified management of the quality of construction works in their respective localities. Provincial/municipal Services managing specialized construction works shall have to manage the quality of specialized construction works.

Provincial/municipal Construction Services and Services managing specialized construction works shall have the following responsibilities:

3.1. Provincial/municipal Construction Services:

a/ To submit to presidents of provincial-level People's Committees for promulgation documents guiding the implementation of legal documents on quality management of construction works in their respective localities;

b/ To guide district-level People's Committees, organizations and individuals engaged in construction activities to implement legal documents on quality management of construction works;

c/ To regularly or irregularly inspect the observance of regulations on quality management of construction works in their respective localities. Examination results must be recorded in a set form;

d/ To coordinate with the Services managing specialized construction works in inspecting specialized construction works in their respective localities;

e/ To guide investors, owners or use managers to deal with incidents of construction works in their respective localities; to report to the Construction Ministry on the results of dealing with incidents by investors, owners or use managers;

f/ To regularly or irregularly report to provincial-level People's Committees on the observance of regulations on quality management of construction works and on the quality of construction works in their respective localities;

g/ To assist provincial-level People's Committees in summing up and sending biannual and annual reports on the quality of construction works in their respective localities to the Construction Ministry.

3.2. Provincial/municipal Services managing specialized construction works, including the Industry Services, Agriculture and Rural Development Services and Transport Services (or Communications and Public Works Services), shall have to:

a/ Perform the tasks stated at Points a, c and f, Clause 3.1 of this Section, with regard to specialized construction works in their respective localities;

b/ Coordinate with provincial/municipal Construction Services in performing the tasks mentioned at Points c and e, Clause 3.1 of this Section, with regard to specialized construction works in their respective localities;

c/ Send biannual and annual reports on the quality of specialized construction works in their respective localities to provincial/municipal Construction Services.

II. Regarding investors' responsibilities in quality management of construction works

Investors shall have to manage in every respect the quality of construction works and bear responsibility for the efficiency of their construction investment projects according to the provisions of Chapters III, IV and V of Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP.

1. Quality management of construction surveys, specified in Chapter III of Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP

1.1. Investors shall approve construction surveying tasks, construction survey technical plans and supplemented construction surveying tasks, drawn up under the provisions of Articles 6, 7 and 9 of Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP. Before approval, if necessary, investors may hire capable construction surveying organizations or individuals to verify construction surveying tasks or construction survey technical plans.

1.2. Investors shall appoint persons with appropriate professional qualifications to supervise construction surveys according to the provisions of Article 11 of Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP. If having no such persons, they may hire those with appropriate professional qualifications to conduct the supervision.

1.3. Investors shall check before accepting reports on construction survey results according to the provisions of Article 12 of Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP and invite, when necessary, experts or professional organizations to participate therein.

2. Regarding quality management of designs, specified in Chapter IV of Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP

2.1. Investors shall have to formulate, or hire consultants to formulate, work construction designing tasks, stated at Point a, Clause 2, Article 7 of Decree No. 16/2005/ND-CP, and Point a, Clause 1, Articles 13 and 14 of Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP. Designing tasks must clearly state the requirements and conditions to be met by designing contractors. During designing steps, designing tasks may be supplemented to suit the practical conditions and ensure the efficiency of investment projects on work construction.

2.2. Designing tasks approved by investors shall be performed by designing contractors. Before approval, if deeming it necessary, investors shall invite experts to comment on designing tasks. After approving the designing tasks, investors must report them to investment deciders.

For works the architectural designs of which must be selected through contest, investors shall have to formulate designing tasks for investment deciders to approve them according to the provisions of Points b and c, Clause 1, Section II of the Construction Ministry's Circular No. 05/2005/TT-BXD of April 12, 2005, guiding contests for architectural designs of construction works.

2.3. Basing themselves on the specific conditions of construction investment projects, work grades and contract performance forms when investors sign contracts with one or more designing organizations or individuals, investors shall have to control and combine all the designs or assign designing general-contractors to do so in order to ensure compatibility and handle in time arising problems to ensure the efficiency of the projects.

2.4. Investors shall evaluate and approve by themselves technical designs, construction drawing designs, cost estimates and total cost estimates, for construction works subject to project formulation as provided for in Article 16 of Decree No. 16/2005/ND-CP. Decisions approving technical designs, construction drawing designs, cost estimates and total cost estimates shall be made according to set forms.

If investors are incapable of conducting evaluation, they may hire capable consulting organizations or individuals to verify work designs and cost estimates, for all or some of the contents specified in Clauses 2 and 3, Article 16 of Decree No. 16/2005/ND-CP, which shall serve as a basis for evaluation and approval. Consulting organizations must have full designing capability conditions required for the class and grade of the works they accept to verify. Design verifiers must have the capability conditions like designers of the works whose designs are verified at investors' requests.

2.5. Investors must establish the legality of design products before construction by appending their signatures and seals to certify their approval to the design drawings, made according to a set form.

3. Regarding construction quality management specified in Chapter V of Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP

3.1. Investors shall set up project management units or hire consulting organizations to manage projects under decisions of investment deciders as provided for in Article 35 of Decree No. 16/2005/ND-CP. Project management units must have capabilities equal to those of project management consulting organizations as specified in Clause 1, Article 56 of Decree No. 16/2005/ND-CP.

The tasks and powers of investors, project management units and project management consulting organizations are specified in Articles 36 and 37 of Decree No. 16/2005/ND-CP.

For minor and simple repair or construction projects with an investment capital of under VND 1 billion each, investors may not set up project management units provided that such is approved by investment deciders. Investors must appoint persons to manage projects and hire design consulting or construction supervising organizations to help them.

3.2. Investors shall supervise by themselves the quality of work construction according to the provisions of Article 21 of Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP if they are fully capable of supervising construction under the provisions of Article 62 of Decree No. 16/2005/ND-CP.

If investors are incapable of supervising construction, they shall assign project management-consulting organizations to supervise the construction of works if the latter have full capability conditions specified in Article 62 of Decree No. 16/2005/ND-CP.

In cases where project management-consulting organizations are incapable of supervising construction, investors must hire consultants to supervise construction.

Investors must regularly inspect and urge the construction supervision by project management units, project management-consulting organizations and construction-supervising contractors.

3.3. Investors shall have to send biannual and annual reports, made according to a set form, on the quality of works to provincial/municipal Construction Services.

3.4. Investors shall request construction contractors to keep construction diaries.

Construction diaries mean original documents on the construction of works (or work components), serving the exchange of internal information of construction contractors; the exchange of information of investors, construction contractors and construction-designing contractors. A diary's pages shall be numbered and affixed with overlapping stamps of construction contractors.

Work construction contractors shall make diary entries according to the provisions of Point d, Clause 1, Article 19 of Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP, including the following particulars: list of contractors' technicians participating in work construction (with the title and tasks of each technician); daily construction work, construction job, and details of the whole construction process; brief description of construction methods; actual state of materials and structures used; differences from construction drawings, reasons therefor and measures to overcome; contents of handover meetings between one construction shift and the subsequent shift; on-site quality management team's comments on construction quality.

3.5. Investors and their construction-supervising contractors, and designer supervisors shall make entries in the diaries as specified at Point d, Clause 1, Article 21 of Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP, including list of supervisors and their tasks and powers; results of on-site examination and supervision of construction; proposals and requests to construction contractors to overcome the consequences of violations related to the quality of construction works; design changes in the construction process.

3.6. Investors shall request construction contractors to check construction jobs, construction work parts, construction stages, work components as well as and works before issuing cards to request investors to check for acceptance. Participants in such check include:

- The team chief;

- The person in direct charge of construction techniques;

- The head of the group of workers directly engaged in construction;

- A representative of the succeeding contractor (if any);

- A representative of the quality management group assisting the commander of the construction site;

- A representative of the construction contractor's technical section.

3.7. Investors shall check before acceptance construction jobs, construction work parts, construction stages, construction work components and construction works according to the provisions of Articles 23, 24, 25 and 26 of Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP.

For construction jobs with defects, if any, hard to remedy in subsequent jobs, such as construction of underground or hidden parts of important supporting work components, investors shall request designing contractors to participate in the check.

When checking completed construction work components and construction works before they are put to use, investors shall invite representatives of the works' managers or owners to participate in the check.

3.8. Investors shall hand over works to their owners or users after checking and accepting completed works according to regulations.

III. Regarding competence to decide on dismantlement, defined in Article 86 of the Construction Law

1. Competence to decide on dismantlement

The dismantlement of works stipulated in Clause 1, Article 86 of the Construction Law shall be carried out under decisions of provincial- or district-level People's Committees, depending on the size of works. In cases where the owners or users of the works fail to observe such decisions, their works shall be dismantled and they shall have to bear all expenses for the dismantlement.

2. Formulation and approval of solutions to dismantlement of construction works

After dismantlement decisions are issued by competent bodies defined in Clause 1 of this Section, persons assigned to dismantle works must prepare and approve dismantlement solutions. If the dismantlement may affect adjacent houses or neighboring works, the dismantlement solutions must be agreed upon by heads of adjacent houses and owners of neighboring works.

Depending on the sizes and characteristics of works to be dismantled, in case of necessity, persons assigned to dismantle works should consult experts regarding dismantlement solutions before their approval.

IV. Regarding re-ranking conditions for organizations ineligible for ranking and newly set up organizations, defined in Chapter V of Decree No. 16/2005/ND-CP

1. For project-managing organizations ineligible for ranking, if having managed at least 5 projects which only require the formulation of economic-technical reports on work construction, they shall be allowed to manage group-C projects.

2. For construction-supervising organizations ineligible for ranking, if having performed at least 5 tasks of construction survey of grade-IV works, they shall be allowed to perform construction-supervising tasks of the same kind for grade-III works.

3. For design-consulting organizations ineligible for ranking, if having designed at least 5 grade-IV works, they shall be allowed to design grade-III works of the same kind.

4. For construction-consulting organizations ineligible for ranking, if having supervised the construction of at least 5 grade-IV works, they shall be allowed to supervise the construction of grade-III works of the same kind.

5. For building organizations ineligible for ranking, if having renovated 3 works, they shall be allowed to build grade-IV works, and then, if having built at least 5 grade-IV works, they shall be allowed to build grade-III works of the same kind.

V. Implementation provisions

1. This Circular takes effect 15 days after its publication in "CONG BAO."

2. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of Government-attached agencies, and presidents of provincial/municipal People's Committees shall have to implement this Circular. If any problems arise in the course of implementation, agencies, organizations and individuals should report them to the Construction Ministry for consideration and settlement.